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Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 415
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 01:52 pm: | 
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Hello All,
I love going to the BEA every year. For many of the people there, the event is a prime opportunity to talk business. Not me though--much to Troy’s chagrin--I’m there for the books. *big smile* The event brings out my true bibliophile nature. I go just to get books and more books. The BEA is my annual vacation and I look forward to it with the same anxiousness that I await Christmas. I get to meet folks who visit the discussion board, meet a few authors who wrote books that I loved and those whose books I hated with a passion. Some of those meetings are very quick; others…well…let me say that they are interesting to say the least. Ah…the life of a reviewer…*LOL*
For those of you who haven’t seen me in action at the BEA, I am awfully low key. I don’t dress to impress, or take on the “business” voice or poise that one would associate with an intelligent, highly educated black professional. Hell, I’m there to relax—bump the silly shit. Seventy five percent of the time, my name badge is flipped around so that the back is showing. Although I’m big as a house, I try like the dickens to blend into the background to see, feel and hear what is really going on in the industry. You all know that old saying “You can’t hear AND talk at the same time”, believe me, I’m all ears.
Here’s how we stand, my impression, for those of us who love well written AA fiction, the pickings are slim to non-existent. There were a few authors in the house Mary Monroe, to name one, but the authors who consistently write one good book after the other were absent. No Gloria Mallette, no Bernice Mc Fadden, no Steven Barnes, no David Anthony Durham. Where were they? I have not a clue. But we did have everyone else; if a character could fuck it, shoot it, or pray over it, that book was represented. But not everything is happy and golden in Oz.
It is estimated that for the past few years, the AA reading audience is worth $300--$380 million a year to the publishing industry. To the surprise of some in the industry, this amount has been rather consistent. While $300 million is nothing to sneeze at, it alone will not make the publishing industry stand up and take notice. As a matter of fact, it has allowed the industry to take us for granted.
In the previous few years of the BEA, the Autographing section featured what I called, the Magic Hour. The Magic Hour was the one hour in the conference that features AA authors in the 10-20 autographing booths. I would literally go from one table to other collecting autographed books. I was walking and sweating, carrying bags loaded down with books. It was wonderful, it was magic! This year, Magic Hour wasn’t even an amusing minute. What happened? Have we played ourselves?
I aint above saying “I told you so”, and I’m saying it now, I told all of yawl how this was going to go down. It’s becoming clear that folks are growing tired of the U-go-girl books. The gangsta-thug books: I know they were making some noise last year, I aint hearing nothing but a whisper from ‘em this today though. Now, I suppose the trend of today is the,”I was a ho but now I found Jesus” books. OK, but even church eventually has to sing the “Let the words of my mouth…” song and let out sometime. And then what will be the next big trend in AA publishing? How about, for our next trend, we buy only WELL WRITTEN books by authors who know how to write. *eyebrow raised* Believe it or not, all of this, our popular book for the moment, the $300 million that the publishing industry can almost bank on from us, and the missing of the Magic Hour at the BEA are all tied in together.
Because our book buying habits have been so predictable: buying only one or two types of books, and keep in mind that most of those books were poorly written; thereby, making it damn near impossible for a well respected author to garner any book sales. This leads to no advertising, no book signing appearances, no BEA. Now, the industry will slow up on the U go girl, gangsta-thug authors as well, because as it appears, the AA reading audience will buy and read any piece of crap they can throw at us to the tune of a dependable $300-$380 million profit. So the industry doesn’t have to work for our money. They will keep catering to the same old’ target market.
Here’s where the vicious circle begins, the industry does not see the need to throw any more at us because the audience is NOT growing. Of course the audience, thus the book buying consumers is not growing not if the only books being published are the ones I talked about before. The industry will not advertise any other books because those types of books are not going to sell. The AA reading audiences, AKA the black women readers, have spoken. Ninety percent of the books (so it seems to me) are geared towards the black woman reader, no matter the age. The book buying consumer group can only grow when black men, young men and small boys are taken into the mix. And for whatever reason, intentional or not, the women are holding their piece of the market with a death grip; so the authors will keep churning out books with the same old’ tired ass themes and storylines an publishers will keep selling them while on their other hand condemning us because that $300 million is not growing to $500 million to $700 million. The only way for the pot to get bigger is to have black MEN readers and that’s not going to happen with any U go girl book, I can tell you.
The forecast: It’s going to get down right ugly for any author who do not write U go girl, gangsta-thug, or how I found Jesus books. The kind of books that these authors write is not marketable, so who will publish them, especially if no one is going to buy them. What ticks me off is that its not like publishing companies don’t publish books by WHITE AUTHORS that don’t sell worth a damn. I see these books all the time at BEA. There is STILL the stigma that we, AA, can not write true literature; and honestly looking at it from the publishing industry point of view; we, AA, damn sure can not RECOGNIZE or APPRECIATE true literature—hence the popularity of the U go girl, etc. books. It hurts me to say this, but if I was you all, I would start pitching my books to the white readers. Maybe there you will find an audience for your work. My prayers and support is behind each and every one of you.
Frankly, it’s not going to be peaches and cream for those authors either with the market so over saturated with these poorly written and edited books. Watch, there’s a dozen people waiting to take your place. All I can say is…do not ask for a bigger advance with your next contract renewal, do not spend all your money, read Zero Debt by Lynette Khalfani and commit it to memory!
As for me and all the other readers of good fiction and poetic literature; I guess we are going to have to take our books underground.
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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 418
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 04:28 pm: |
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Thumper, thank you for this impassioned post. I even managed to keep reading after if a character could fuck it, shoot it, or pray over it, that book was represented LOL!
What are some solutions, then? I think your assessment of getting young African American boys and Black men into the mix is a key one. Where do we go with that? Video game tie-ins? Pitch video games based on Black literature? Comic books/graphic novels?
I had this insane thought while at my family reunion last week. At one point, over at my aunt and uncle's house, all the young people--including about 8 young males--flocked to the living room to catch the newest installment of R. Kelly's cliff-hanger video. Could we get some songs and videos based on books?
I'm just a reader, not a writer, reviewer, or any other "industry" person. But it sounds like you've identified a true problem. Maybe one folks on this board could create ways to address. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1203
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 05:47 pm: |
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Way to go, Thump. You are in rare form.
You are preaching to the choir--which is one problem. All of us read. You need to take it to the sinners.
Rots of ruck. Reading for pleasure is on the way out, old man. It will become the province of fewer and fewer people. It cannot compare with audio, video, movies, and what have you.
The only way it might come back in is there is a gigantic collapse of society and power becomes scarce and people have to go back to candle power. |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 417
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 07:34 pm: |
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Hello All,
Chris: I don't think I'm preaching to the choir at all. I believe there's a place and time for all things. I am the first to admit that when I'm in the mood to play Need for Speed: Underground on my XBox, reading a Mary Monroe novel instead won't satisfy me. I don't see the need to abandon the notion of more black men reading. I believe more would read if there is more books that feature their interest.
I have male friends that are more curious about books when they see me reading. My older brother for instance, don't read any books. Imagine my surprise when he approached me one day that if I ran across a book about black boxers to let him know. Do you think that the U go girl book authors will write a book about a black boxer--THAT DON'T FEATURE A SILLY ASS, MISPLACED, ROMANCE IN IT? *eyebrow raised* Right, I don't think so either. When such a book comes to my attention, care to put a little money down on what color that author would be? *eyebrow still raised* And there won't be a Tornleisha romance no where near that story.
Second, what about the generations of black boys that are coming up now? The books written for black children today, a great majority of the books are slanted twoards the girls. And the few that "say" that they are written with boys in mind, the tone is still blantantly feminine, as if the author is ever mindful that the book might fall into the hands of a few girls, so that there is always a little something for them. Until we start writing books that DO NOT have a "message" and is just plain entertaining to read, the black male population will never become book readers.
So, no Chris I don't believe that it will take a gigantic collapse of society and power to become scrace to get black men to read; I fear that that is already happening because WE are NOT reading. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 2284
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 10:09 pm: |
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We would like to think that what's best will prevail. But all around us, we see how the visual and the technical is eroding our society, how 5 and 6 year-olds can master video games and surf the net, how animated movies become box office blockbusters. That's the wave of the future. There will always be readers, but this thing called "progress" does not lend itself to motivating an overwhelming reading habit among the masses. |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 418
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 10:50 pm: |
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Hello All,
Cynique: Who's fault is it that there is not an overwhelming reading habit? True there is a difference between men and women, but aren't we as a society responsible for the gap being so damn wide on certain issues...reading being one of them? Isn't it more acceptable, socially, for girls to read books than boys? *eyebrow raised* And look at that "other" board: notice how it was stated that black men who read fiction are probably GAY? *eyebrow raised* See what a wee bit of education can do to a very SIMPLE mind? I guess I have a family full of black gay men, whose wives don't know it and keep having a bunch of kids with them, huh? How so fucking STUPID! We need to quit cutting off our noses to spite our faces. What normal black boy would want to endure the stigma and taunts of being called gay just because he wants and likes READING BOOKS!? We have a problem people. I guess the first step in solving it would be to tell our boys that its OK, we give them our permission to READ. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3278
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 11:01 pm: |
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I've yet to have it proven to me that ANY of this new media has supplanted READING/WRITING as the primary educational/scholarly tool. And until THAT happens, books - be they paper, plastic or electronic - will retain a predominant role.
I maintain that reading/writing exacts a degree of intellectual rigor/preparations that can't be matched via the more passive audio/visual media.
Moreover, most if not all the media has at it's foundation some WRITING.
Someone's still writing/reading the scripts, outlines, treatments and screenplays that result in the videos, music, TV, movies, etc. we decry.
So I think the greater danger is not the disappearance of traditional reading/writing itself. Our real peril is many of us are being deluded into thinking we don't have to read/write.
THAT, to me, appears to be a precusor to some new version of captivity and slavery. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 2285
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 11:03 pm: |
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We do have a problem, Thumper. I don't know whose responsibility it is to take up the slack. Nobody seems to be stepping up. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3279
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 11:07 pm: |
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Black foks. As we while away our lives consuming mounds of mindless media, there are about 3 BILLION Chinese and Indians were are reading, learning...and COMING. |
Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 422
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 08:40 am: |
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Someone's still writing/reading the scripts, outlines, treatments and screenplays that result in the videos, music, TV, movies, etc. we decry.
You are right about this, ABM. I went to a presentation by a rep from a major video game company a while back here at my university. He said that one of the banes of the video game field is the relative illiteracy of the guys who write the scripts. (If you've played video games, you've probably noticed this--esp all the misspellings and gramatical errors.) He said they were hungry for historians, lit majors, etc who could WRITE and write well to work with teams designing back stories, transition stories, developing game themes, etc.
The problem is that a lot of folks who are scholarly and/or literary types look down on this type of entertainment, so the last thing they want to do is contribute to creating it.
Also, what you say about technologies not "supplanting" previous ones has been pointed out by several scholars who do work in this area. In general, communications technologies exist side by side, older and newer. Radio, telephones, books, newspapers. |
Soul_sister
Regular Poster
Username: Soul_sister
Post Number: 31
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 09:58 am: |
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Hey y'all
Thumper - I spotted you at BEA - on the cell phone coming out of the 2nd floor exhibits - didn't bother to disturb you since you were talking - that must have been the one time your badge was turned right side up - smile
As for your comments - I have been saying the same thing about the dearth of good stories out there - yet historians, scientists and others are uncovering new things everyday that would make great stories and movies - yet none of these things are making prime time. Go figure.
As for the industry the dollar is the bottomline - and as Black culture spirals downward into an abyss of the vulgar and profane -- people are collecting dollars and making money 330 million aint bad - What bothers me is that the people who support the urban lit thing believe they are "being bookish" and literate -- incredible.
Answer - go underground - that method is working for true hip hop that is positive and uplifting - it worked for Harriet and others in the 1800s and now again - we lovers of well crafted stories and character development gotta start to put our money where our mouths are -- and speak out against the crap and promote the good stuff
peace
ps - I understand Kuwana Haulsey was at the Blackboard awards - I am so upset I missed her - but Angel of Harlem - was the da BOMB of 2004 - I cannot wait til her next title. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3289
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 12:52 pm: |
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Soul-sister,
Soul_sister: “...historians, scientists and others are uncovering new things everyday that would make great stories...”
ABM: Indeed. The problem is either media makers themselves are not versant in such or they are but fear their rather unsophisticated audience can’t handle it. Ironically the MM’s themselves are at least partly responsible for BOTH.
‘Vette,
Of course the media producers are seeking better informed/read people. Just cause they are venal, greedy, moneygrubbing b&st&rd$ don't mean they’re all bad.
Heck. There’s only so much fluffy, redundant, vacuous crap that even the devil himself will abide (~"Enough of this pondscum ALREADY! When is the next Picasso or Bird Parker coming along? Corrupting these talentless sockpuppets ain't as much fun as I anticipated."~).
The mind (like the muscle) will atrophy via a lack of sincere, consistent and productive exertion. That, sadly is what we’re bearing witness to. But as I said to Soul_sister: The media makers have themselves helped engender what they’re now whining about.
Yes. There’s PLENTY of room for any assortment of media provided it fulfill our most basic needs for discourse, information, training and entertainment.
The photograph was supposed to supplant manual created arts. Yet we still have painters and sculptors.
TV was supposed to replace radio and the cinema. Yet those industries enjoy all-time ad revenues and box office returns.
In the end, any form of discourse that WORKS for people will prevail, regardless of the other media that follows.
Again, the issue will over the long-run will be WHO creates/edits/owns/control the media and who has the skill to wield any/all media to their personal/collective benefit. Therein heaven and havoc doth ensue.
And while I empathize with scholars preferring to abstain from modern media, I think over the long-term they’re committing a dreadful error. Because they may to their utter chagrin discover their voluntary absence from the zeitgeist has helped EXCERBATE and ACCELERATE our overall social/cultural degradation. (That's, btw, why I commend the cross-generational/cultural efforts being made by great AA intellectuals like Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson and their like.)
‘Vette: “Also, what you say about technologies not "supplanting" previous ones has been pointed out by several scholars who do work in this area.”
ABM: See what good can come of...reading?  |
Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 425
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 02:13 pm: |
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I don't know. I guess I just get tired. I get involved in these conversations about literacy (or lack of) in the Black community and people seem to have a lot of passion and opinion about the issue. But then I say things like "What creative solutions can we come up with" and all people want to do is continue to moan and decry and describe.
All this--even if justified and accurate--is not likely to solve anything.
I ask again, what creative solutions can we think of?
If you all think it's a dumb question or a naive question or a simplistic question, then just say so and I won't trouble myself or you by speaking on this topic again. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3299
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 04:30 pm: |
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'Vette:
Here are some solutions (though I don't know whether you'll find them to be "creative"):
@ Give HALF all your FAVORITE books away to others who seldom read.
@ Be a reading tutor of children/adults.
@ Purchase a full year's comic book subscription for 2 - 5 kids.
@ Sponsor contests/award programs that feature reading, vocabulary and spelling skills.
@ Take people who seldom read to book signings/readings.
@ Solicit authors to visit your local schools.
@ Solicit sponsorship from businesses, government, foundations, etc. to help sponsor your activities.
@ Hold book reading/review/club events at your home and invite those who seldom read.
@ And encourage those who feel as you do to do the above.
And be encouraged!
I consider reading to be as much a habit as it is a virtue. And any habit can yield negative or positive results depending on how it’s cultivated.
Thus, although I understand a lot of the resentment of the current direction (e.g., Street, sex, you-go-gurl lit’, etc.) of the book biz, I think our angst is a bit misguided.
Because to me, the worse possible scenario is not bad reading/writing; it’s NO reading/writing.
The growth of these (less reputable) genres suggests that at least the compulsion to read itself is STILL alive and kickin’. It just needs to be guided, steered and enhanced. |
Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 426
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 04:56 pm: |
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ABM, I like these a lot...My head is tick tick ticking away with an idea that is an offshoot of something you mentioned above, having to do with giving books, comic books to kids...
(Stay tuned.) |
Troy
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 263
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 11, 2005 - 09:04 am: |
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Like Thumper I too love going to BEA. And Thumper, I defintely don't want you to turn into someone trying to garner business. Your popularity is due to you doing what you obviously enjoy doing -- reading a lot and giving honest opinion about what you read. So party on dude!. Unlike Thumper however I was not trying to load up on books. Yes Virginia, there are people who go to BEA who are not interested in loading up on books.
I was more interested in making better connections with people and attempting to capture some of that on film. I had a low end camera, and once the images are compressed for on-line distribution the quality will fall something short of CSpan's BookTV. But unlike CSpan I have captured and will archive just a small sample of what African American publishers and authors have to say. After listening to so many people share what they were doing. I have a much more positive impression on the state of Black literature.
First Black people are being published in greater numbers than ever before. But more importantly Black people are doing great things at every step of the way. I spoke with Black authors, agents, editors, publicists, distributors, book publishers, magazine publishers, book reviewers, book consumers and even other web people like myself. The number of Black people in every facet of the game grows every year. This is a very, very good thing.
We are building platforms from which great literature can spring. Ultimately there will need for more collaborative efforts, a pooling of resources for the sake of efficiency but the ingredients are there and we are poised to do great things in this industry. It won't happen over night but we are on a decent trajectory.
Obviously I was encouraged by what I saw at BEA. Sure many of the great authors were missing -- but the fact of the matter is that they do exist and there are more in the pipeline.
Another cool thing I saw as I was filming the African American Publishers Pavilion at BEA was Walter Mosley. Walter took the time and effort to go to every booth in the Pavilion and he engaged everyone in those booths in a conversation. Obviously an author of Walter's stature does not have to do this -- but he did.
I was also encouraged by the presence and growth of Moore Black Press. A publishing company older than AALBC.com but run by this young (still) sister named Jessica care Moore. She has published the likes of Asha Bandele, Ras Baraka, Saul Williams as well as herself. Jessica's books have always done well on this web site.
I ran into critically acclaimed author Brandon Massey. Brandon, author of several books including the recently published Within the Shadows. I remember Brandon Massey from the 90's when he self-published THUNDERLAND. Brandon has grown tremendously as an author and we continue to support each other.
Speaking of literacy in the Black community and who is doing something about it; makes me think of Dr. Rosie Milligan, publisher of Milligan Books from Los Angeles. She feels she can get kids to read by publishing the books of other children. I also spoke with Wade and Cheryl Hudson of Just Us Book. They are doing terrific things publishing quality book for young people.
I could go on and on. Obviously I'm quite high on what I saw at BEA and see in the industry -- there is great yet to be realized potential.
Yvettep here are some more suggestions to add to ABM's list
- Parents read to your children EVERY night
- Support the independent publishers of books for children. With the additional support they will help build the demand
Peace
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Jmho
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Jmho
Post Number: 141
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 19, 2005 - 12:17 pm: |
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Thumper, sounds like the ole chicken or egg quandary. However, thanks for the insight. |
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